Washington: The remittances to India from NRIs who are employed or involved in businesses abroad, have been USD 80 billion during the year, states a World Bank report. India tops the world’s list of remittances followed by China, Mexico and Philippines. The remittances have resulted in the strengthening of the Indian economy while the World Bank has reported that it is a record increase in the remittances compared to the last two years.

India has led the remittance list for the last three years. In 2016, India’s flow of remittances were $62.7 billion while they were at $65.3 billion in 2017. In the year 2017, the remittances constituted to 2.7% of the Indian GDP. Nevertheless, this year, there is a major increase, and the remittances have jumped to USD 80 billion. The World Bank has noted this in its report and has said that the flow of remittances around the world totalled to USD 528 billion for the year 2018. A growth of 10.8% has been recorded in the overall figure.

The improvement in the economies of the countries like the United States, the improved cash flow in the Middle Eastern economies because of the increased crude prices, have added life to the employment and business sectors to a certain extent. This is claimed to have had a direct effect on the remittances. India is leading on this front followed by China at $67 billion. Mexico and Philippines are next on the list standing third on remittances pegged at $34 billion, while Egypt is fourth with $26 billion.

The World Bank report states that although the growth in remittances has been 10.8% for the current year, in 2019, the growth may be a meagre 3.7%.